Where, oh where, did I go? Absolutely nowhere. When I started this post, it was all about photographing the inaugural Hambletonian Marathon and Good Time Trotters Relay. Then, I found out I could share via Flickr and moved that post to this other method.

So now, where did I go? I went grocery shopping. The shelves were looking pretty bare and I had a small period of time and one of the cars was here. I have an running grocery list in Evernote – I even remembered to delete items this time as I bought them – so deciding on the spur of the moment to head to the grocery store is not a big deal.

This trip will be my last big trip to the grocery until I purchase Thanksgiving dinner foods. There will be occasional trips for those consumable items – milk, bread, butter, toilet paper – that I seem to always be purchasing.

Since I was running on limited time, I opted to go to Weis over Wegman’s. I have not figured if this cost me more but I do not think so this trip. So what is on a grocery receipt that is two feet long? Yes, I said two feet. Of course, there is the obligatory “junk” at the bottom that tells how you are fairing on the stores Holiday Rewards and on gas rewards. There is also a guarantee that the receipt paper is BPA free. Guess I never thought of BPA on receipt paper. There is the obligatory website to tell the store how the employees and the selection fared this trip. Do you ever do these? I have to admit there is not enough money to make me do one every time I am at a store.

Now to the food. Staples such as cashew butter, extra large eggs (I’ve been buying jumbo but these are 20 cents less), whole wheat flour, unbleached flour (the holiday baking season is almost upon us), canned tomatoes (no BPA free guarantee here), herbal tea, veggie stock, pasta, coffee, tissues, beans (dried mostly but some canned black beans as they were out of dried), brown rice, oats, and toilet paper were purchased. I also purchased the following fresh veggies: peppers (4), celery, spinach, mushrooms, zucchini, and kale. I purchased boneless, skinless chicken breasts and pork chops and tofu and canned tuna. I also purchased two loafs of Arnold bread and two packages of limited edition Thomas’ bagels (gingerbread and cranberry) and two boxes of store brand cereal. Throw in two bags of chocolate chips because, well, holiday baking is coming. I didn’t buy any fruit as I had bought that – apples, bananas, clementines – at Sam’s earlier in the week.

So, does anyone want to guess? I will say that the bottom of my receipt tells me I saved half of what I ended up paying, meaning my bill – without store sales and two or three coupons – would have been 50% more had I not shopped this way. The grand total – just over $105. Savings $52.46.

How often do you grocery shop? How long does one trip last you? What is your weekly/monthly grocery budget?